he claims he developed a "friendship" with a wild cougar in Utah and that set him on his path as an expert big cat keeper, and he then moved into training big cats for Hollywood. There's not a lot of proof that I've ever found -- like a lot of things to do with the Lion Man its hard to dig through the fanatics to find what is true and what's not -- so I can't say one way or the other.
If you think his previous record was impressive though vague, wait until you hear of his adventures in Africa. :O
"Vague" would be the best word to describe his experience judging by my conversations with him and my discussions with mutual acquaintances. He made vague references to Siegfried and Roy, Hollywood etc but none of them ever checked out. The only one that did check out was the Guns 'n Roses link and he sure didn't tell me about that one! There was little, if any, animal training involved with his time with that collection. I have not yet seen any evidence that he has ever been an animal "trainer". Chasing a lion around an enclosure on a quad bike to try to get it to pose in front of a green screen [as shown on one of his TV shows] is not training. It will be interesting to see where Zion goes from here.
well I've never met Craig Busch of course, but what Steve says above pretty much sums up what I figured
You probably know him better than most of us then Steve. He does describe himself as a big cat trainer, and has said so many times on his TV series and in interviews. Teh lio named Zion he described as the best trained lion in the world, and of course trained by him from a cub. There are a number of stories about his time in Africa working with lions while making a doco. No doubt they will be used on his new Lion Man series. So far though he seems to be keeping a very low profile, not a bad idea really.
Craig needs to sell the rights to the story about himself, Zion and his mother/sister to a film producer - movies about zoos seem to be all the rage right now, and he does have a heck of a story to tell (although the story is far from over yet!)
i remember him declining the offer of going into the working cage with a trainer and his lions admittedly he was a younger man
I also remember him in South Africa, his first venture into a wildlife park where wild lions (well semi wild as they still get fed by humans in that park) roam free. What they didn't show was the armed rangers standing by to shoot a lion if it attacked the mad kiwi. Its the law in South Africa that tourists on foot in dangerous game areas must be accompanied by a qualified ranger armed with a weapon powerful enough to stop the biggest dangerous animal (usually an elephant) present. Anyone seen those docos of Dave Salmoni's on Animal Planet? He approaches lions and other danagerous animals armed with only a long stick. And while they often show his back up crew filming him, they never show the rifles they would have to carry. There is quite a good article about the likes of these animal doco makers, I'll hunt it out and post it. Apparently Craigs lion doco in SA was along similar lines.
Amazing how prime tiem news fades so fast isn't it, a week ago this was front page and priority news, with Campbell devoting most of a couple of programs on it. Now the media have forgotten it and moved on. Might be a wise ploy on Craigs part to refuse to speak to media, as without out anything fresh they will soon be distracted by something trivial but considered interesting.
I was thinking the same thing myself. John Campbell offered an open invitation for Craig or/and the new owners to appear on his programme -- and nothing. On the one hand it does seem sensible, to keep their collective heads down and hope things blow over; but on the other hand, affirmative action would be in their best interests one would think, so they could put forward their case and try to turn things to their own corner. As always, its an odd way to try and run a profitable public wildlife park.
Profit Are you kidding. The new owners if successful in geting the animals..... have little chance of ever seeing a profit from this 'white elephant'!
well its a fair bet that the cats will remain at Zion, and why would anyone try to run a wildlife park at a loss? Whether they do make a good go at it, or falter and fall, they will still "try and run a profitable public wildlife park", which is what I was saying (profitable in the sense that it will be successful, not necessarily making them personally a lot of money)
Zion I doubt the new owners area trying to run it at a loss but they have saddled themselves with the very person who caused the problems in the first place. That seems to make no sense to me. If they wanted to make a 'fresh' start and try and build something to be proud of why would you include Craig Busch? A recipe for future disaster. MAF will just have to deal with this place again in the future.
+1 think you will find new owners think craig is the answer, some only believe the spin he has put on things you only need to look at the one common factor in all the scenes and burnt fingers in this soap opera
Well you only have to look at his facebook fan page to see there appear to be thousands of people who think Craig is the best animal trainer in the world. Perhaps if Craig is kept away from the financial side of things the park might run more smoothly. The new owners could probably run it at a loss for a long time and not notice the loss of money, might well be a tax dodge for them. Wouldnt be the first wealthy well off farmer I have heard of who owns a money losing operation on the side to reduce their tax.
